In the morning, the group continued on towards Viridian City. By noon, they could see the faintest signs of civilization looming in the distance, just above the horizon of the Viridian forest. Upon seeing this, Dean took the lead and led them swiftly down the grassy, wild path that was Route 1. It was like he really wanted to get home, or something.

In Ryan's hand was his new Tauros' Pokeball. The Tauros - which he had named NaVorro - would be a great addition to his team. He had replaced old Matata with NaVorro last night; the process grieved the young trainer's heart, in truth - she had been with Ryan on his Pokemon journey since nigh the very start. She had helped him get his very first gym badge. But she was just too weak. He hoped she wouldn't mind.

Next to Ryan lumbered Rahul, his great belly swinging like a trash bag full of water with every step. In his hand was a plate of chicken and waffles, and he had syrup running down his lips and into his goatee. The devastation of the sweet stickiness was a grim sight to behold and even more tragic since they were all out in the wilderness and Rahul had no easy way to remedy himself of his sticky situation (save for, perhaps, thrusting his face into a river, which the well-cultured boy would never do (unless he was rewarded with food for doing that)). Despite that, the amiable bloke seemed not to care, and he was sucking on his fingers like they were made of cool whip.

"Hey Rahul, Dexy told me that Tauros is a great Pokemon. Did you add the one Ash gave you to your lineup?" Ryan asked the good-natured trainer as they walked side-by-side down the dirt path.

"What? Are you crazy?!" Rahul scoffed down two waffles in a breath. It was an astonishing feat of gluttony. He clapped his hands and two scantily-clad females burst out from the bushes and ran up to him with more steaming hot plates of chicken and waffles for sweet Rahul. He grunted in pleasure seeing the two plates and took them with great impatience. Then, the two women disappeared into the bushes again. As this had been happening ever since Ryan had first met Rahul, he no longer questioned such absurdities. "Your Pokedex must be broken. Magneton is way better than Tauros." And with that, he downed another plate of breakfast. Ryan thought the boy had eaten enough for fourth breakfast, which would have made Merry and Pippin quite happy.

"Whatever you say, big man," Ryan smiled. He trusted Dexy far more than Rahul, though. He liked his chances with the big, powerful wild bull Pokemon.

Kelly was in high spirits too, for she had also received a Tauros from Ash, and that meant that she had finally acquired a team of six. "I'm almost ready to challenge the Viridian City Gym Leader," she told Ryan. "I think I need to get in a little more training, first. I haven't used a Tauros in battle before. It would be nice to get a familiar with Patrice before I use him in the gym battle."

"Well at least you aren't like Rahul," Ryan observed. "He doesn't see the value in a Tauros at all."

Kelly's face went pale and her eyes nearly bulged out of her skull. "Is he crazy?! This is Kanto! Tauros is one of the best Pokemon in the region. You can't not have a Tauros on your team! It's like thinking the first Pokemon theme isn't the best one!"

"I tried to tell him, but he thought Magneton is better."

Kelly nearly threw up, Rahul's antics disgusted her so. "Well, if he finds a way to beat this Gym Leader, good for him. But he'll be wanting that Tauros when he realizes how weak his team is without it."

Poor guy. Ryan nodded in approval and felt his stomach growl for some chicken and waffles. Or maybe that was Abra, who was perched on his shoulder like a loyal parrot. The small Pokemon appeared to be asleep, and he was swinging this way and that, as precariously perched on Ryan's shoulder as a glass of water. But Abra didn't like his Pokeball, and Ryan had not the heart to keep him in there too long, so this mad game was like to continue for some time.

"It doesn't matter, though," Kelly continued. "You two can't face the Viridian City Gym Leader anyways."

"What, why?!" Ryan was so startled at that bit of information that he jumped and caused Abra to go flying off of him and into the bushes. At once, Abra was confronted by another Pokemon: a ferocious Rattata! It was a hideous beast, as powerful as a carton of milk if Ryan had ever saw one. Abra yawned and hit it with Psychic. The poor purple rat went flying off into the deep forest, and Ryan wondered if that would allow Pokemon to become well-acquainted with Rahul's food servants.

Kelly was not amused, and she did not even give Abra a thumbs up for defeating that super hard (and probably level 2) Rattata. That was okay, for Ryan lumped his Pokemon with many a praise as the little guy mounted Ryan's shoulder again. "You need the other seven badges before you can go to the Viridian City gym," she explained. "It's the hardest gym. Only the best trainers can get through to take part in the Indigo League."

Well that was not fair, not fair at all. Ryan had started this journey not too long ago and he had planned on going with Kelly to the end. But since he had started so late, she had gathered far more gym badges than him. How now was their journey together supposed to continue? He felt a flush creeping up on his face as he opened his mouth again, "B-but… I still have to get all of my other badges. Aren't you coming with me?"

A strange look flickered across Kelly's face as she looked over to him. Then, after a pause, the pink-haired girl shook her head. "Once I've got the last badge, I'm going to the Indigo Tournament. If you can get all the other badges in time, maybe I'll see you there."

The words stung like a slap to the face, and Ryan was left speechless. He stopped walking, even as the others continued on, not noticing how affected he was. "I… I thought we were going on this adventure together…" he whispered to himself. "I don't want to be alone again…"

"Abra," Abra contended.

"Abra," Ryan replied sadly.

When he rejoined the group, Kelly had taken a few of her Pokeballs out of her pack. He saw her throw them into the tall grass on the left side of the path. Instantly, 'Aichu and Patrice materialized. "All right," the girl began, "this is a good place to stop. We should get in some last minute training before we get to Viridian City."

"Why should we?" Ryan snapped. "Rahul and I aren't going to the gym."

Kelly laughed at Ryan's attitude. "Then wait for me in the Pokemon Center. But your Pokemon could use some training too for when you finally do return to this gym." She grabbed two more Pokeballs and threw them, releasing her Arcanine, Fluffy, and her Wartortle, Tortilla. "I didn't think you'd turn down a chance to make your Pokemon stronger, Ryan, but if that's what you want, then go…"

Ryan scrunched up his face like a rapturous gremlin. "Okay, okay! I'll stay. My new guys could use some training, I guess."

"Oh, are we stopping here?" Rahul said in a dazed voice. He had continued walking on with Dean when he realized the other two had stopped. Taking selfies of the ruination that was his sticky face with his Sonic Screwdriver had caused Rahul to lose so much awareness that, briefly, he was almost promoted to Lieutenant of that venture in Ryan's eyes. "I guess it's a good time for a snack." The boy snapped his fingers, and a woman came stumbling out from behind a tree ahead, ran over to him, and handed him a plastic bag of trail mix, minus the trail and the mix. All that was left was the good part - the M&M's. And if Ryan knew Rahul - and he sure as heck didn't - he would have expected no less.

Dean, who was leading them down the path, suddenly stopped, and turned around to glare at Kelly. "We're not stopping here. I need to get home."

"Well, kid, I need to train my Pokemon before we get there!" Kelly bit her lip, but did not back down. She put her hands on her hips and stood defiant to the younger boy. The way she looked then gave Ryan a tingly feeling down his chest. "And we'll wait however long that takes."

"Not me," Dean replied. "I'm going home. I don't even know who you people are, really. I don't have to stay with you."

"We're not making you stay with us," said Kelly.

Dean glowered. "It's my way or the highway!" he said, annoyed.

Kelly shrugged. "Suit yourself."

"Bye Dean. You were cool!" Ryan waved. "I'll never forget how you defeated Pinkbeard! That was awesome."

Rahul ate a handful of M&M's.

Ryan had not known the boy very well. Aside from when Dean had saved him from Pinkbeard on the boat, Ryan had not had many interactions with the black-haired boy at all. And that was all well and good, since the boy was much younger than him, and they wouldn't have much to talk about. Even when they had stayed at Ash's house, he had only talked with Dean briefly. They had not been traveling companions so much as they had been strangers traveling to the same destination together. And now they were going to be separated. Ryan felt a little sad, but not much. That kid was cool, but he and Ryan had never bonded.

And so Dean went off down Route 1, alone. Ryan and the others released every one of their Pokemon - 18 in all - to fight the various wild Pokemon along the road. Ryan was a bit dubious at this strategy, since after a few rounds, he realized the wild Pokemon were weaker than a ninety-eight year old fiddler halfway up the roof. He didn't think their Pokemon were getting much stronger with each passing fight, but he dared not say that to Kelly, for as determined as she was, he didn't want to get on her bad side.

Ryan was very proud of his Pokemon: Aegon, the Charmeleon, was a seasoned fighter who fought his opponents with cold determination; Abra was as powerful as he had ever been, and lazily dealt with his quarry without even lifting an eyelid; NaVorro, Ryan's newest Pokemon, proved to be quite powerful as well, as he viciously demolished all of the scary powerful Rattatas he went up against; Clawey handled his foes like he was a wild Pokemon himself and knew his way around the tall grass; Thurnax's majestic force was a beauty to behold, and as he saw his Dragonair take out scores and scores of Pidgeys and Rattatas, Ryan nearly cried it was so beautiful to him; and last, but not least was Ryan's Cloyster, who he had named Myrrah since she last appeared. Like the others, she easily took out dozens and dozens of wild Pokemon until their unconscious bodies piled up high as trees around them. Where all these Pokemon came from, Ryan did not know. The small patch of tall grass they were in did not seem like a big enough ecosystem to support so many hundreds of Pokemon, but he did not question it.

All of this took place in little more than two minutes, for Ryan's Pokemon were legit (Kelly's and Rahul's probably were too, but Ryan had not the attention span to note their fights). And as Ryan was congratulating his buddies for wasting endless waves of wild Pokemon, he suddenly heard a noise coming from ahead. He raised his head like a Meerkat (or the Pokemon equivalent if there was one, but since there wasn't one in Generation 1, Ryan didn't care 'bout that, no sir).

There stood Dean in the center of Route 1. Another boy, slightly taller than him, was standing in the tall grass to his right, and after a few seconds, walked out of the wilderness and onto the path himself. Ryan thought the two looked eerily similar. They were both Asian; that was a certainty. And they had a look about them, a certain type of face that would be too inappropriate for Ryan to explain in much detail here. Suffice to say, Ryan thought the two were related.

He could hear them talking, but did not understand them. It was like they were talking in some kind of Pokespeak, though it could very well have been Chinese. Ryan could not distinguish the two from one another, of course. After a few moments, Dean and Big Dean turned around and walked back to the three trainers laying waste to the wilderness.

As they got closer, Rahul let out a squeal of delight, like a hungry Slowbro. "Alex, Alex, Alex! Yo! Alex! Aleeeex!" he yelled, waving his hands over his head. Ryan and Kelly and their Pokemon watched this in silent awe. All of the battles stopped, and the lucky surviving wild Pokemon ran for the hills, bless their spleens.

The two Chinese kids arrived with smiles on their faces. The one Rahul called Alex put on a pair of sunglasses, then took a gigantic yo-yo out of his backpack, raised in the air and made some kind of gang sign with his hand. Then, unprompted, he burst out into a show of flinging the yo-yo around. Dean had a boombox in his hand and played some balla tunes as Alex flung himself about in some kind of show. This was all very bizarre to Ryan, who wished they could just go back to genociding wild Pokemon instead of watching Chinese kids convulse about with big yo-yos.

Once Alex was done with his spontaneous performance, he took a bow, and everyone clapped mightily for the little guy. Though Ryan could see he was several years older than Dean, he wasn't actually that much taller. He wore a blue short-sleeved shirt with a grey long-sleeved undershirt, a red scarf, and black pants and looked like a small gust of wind could blow him over, he was so skinny and tiny.

"Sup, Rahul," Alex said at last, in a voice that seemed too deep for such a small dude. "Didya… miss me?"

Dean laughed. Rahul grunted in approval. Kelly and Ryan watched in awe. Alex's words sent shivers down Clawey's spine - Ryan would bet a million Pokedollars on that.

"Hey… so hey, that kid's your brother, right?"

"Yeah, that's Dean. He's my brother."

Ryan couldn't believe an actual human being would say something so obvious.

"Awesome!" Rahul said, chuckling and with a glimmer in his eyes. "We met him on the boat ride back from Cinnabar Island. He's cool."

"Yeah, he told me all about it," Alex said. He looked happy enough, but that gruff voice of his seemed like it was an impersonation of someone Ryan did not know.

"Hi, I'm Ryan!" Ryan shouted. "I'm a Pokemon trainer."

Alex nodded. "Alright."

Kelly was messing with a strand of her pink hair anxiously, as if she wanted nothing more than to go back to training her Pokemon. "I'm Kelly. We've been traveling with Dean and Rahul for a while now. I guess you know that, though."

"Oh okay," Alex said.

"Hey Alex," Rahul said gleefully. "Look what I've got!" He held up the little booklet that held his three gym badges. "Three already!"

"Nice. Are you going to enter the Indigo Tournament?"

"Of course!" the big man yelled jubilantly. Ryan had no idea why Rahul had become so energetic all of the sudden. "You should enter, too."

"Yeah. I know. Been too busy with PokeSmash, though."

"What the heck is PokeSmash?!" asked Ryan.

"Are you kidding me?" Rahul roared. "A-are you kidding me, Ryan?! Really, you don't know what PokeSmash is? How can you not know what PokeSmash is?!" Rahul laughed incredulously.

"Well, what is it?"

Before Rahul could respond, he decided to start a new conversation, as he oft does (what a guy). "Hey Alex, let's battle. You and me, six on six. You better have your team with you."

"I do," the short Chinese adolescent replied.

"Awesome!" Rahul thrust his Sonic Screwdriver up, up, up, as if he was trying to color the sky. "Let's do this!"

"Very well," Alex said seriously. He turned to Dean. "You better get home. Mom's been wondering where you've been. You'll have a lot to tell her. Make sure to show her the Pokemon you caught, too." Dean nodded. "Oh, and if I'm not home tonight, remember that after Mom and Dad and Tracey go to bed, you can wake up Robbie and Xiao Bao (aka Zach) and play Halo 7 with them. Just be sure to keep the volume off so no one wakes up. That is the only way you'll be able to play Halo. I know it's weird, since we have a Pokebox One and Halo 7, so we should be able to play the game, but Mom and Dad won't let us play it ever unless we sneak up late at night to do so."

Dean nodded and bowed. "Bye Alex! Good luck with the fight!" he said, before running off to his city and home. And that was the last time Ryan ever saw the kid, at least in person.

Alex turned back to face Rahul. "It's been a while since we've dueled, Rahul. I'm sure we're both a little rusty. I'm not sure I'll be able to anticipate your moves that well."

"Heh, Alex, my Pokemon are way stronger than they were last time. I even have a Magneton now. I'm soooooo going to win."

Alex did a little spin move, his scarlet scarf twirling like something that twirls, and then did a somersault and a jump. It was all rather random and inexplicable. Ryan felt like he was watching performance art. The only thing that was missing was Alex cutting open a can of Spaghettios and pouring it all over himself. When the Chinese boy had had his fill of this, he stopped, caught his breath, and spoke, with all his conviction. "Were it so easy."

Alex's eyes narrowed (an impressive feat for someone with his eyes to begin with), and then threw a Pokeball at the space in between him and Rahul. Rahul patted his belly and stroked his syrup-crusted beard and then followed suit. The greatest battle of our time had just begun.